TAMARACK
Larix laricina
COMMON NAMES: American larch, black larch, hackmatack, salisb.
FEATURES: Larch, the common name of a small genus (Larix) of medium-sized coniferous trees of the pine
family (Pinaceae). They differ from other coniferous genera in being deciduous and in bearing short,
green, needlelike leaves on dwarf and long shoots. The sprucelike, erect cones with thin, persistent scales
and long, accuminate bracts mature in one season. Most species are 40–80 feet high except when growing
near the timberline. Of the ten species now recognized, American larch (Larix americana), also known as
black larch or tamarack, is the most common in the eastern United States and Canada, extending west to
the Rocky Mountains and northwest to the Yukon River in Alaska, where it is sometimes called L.
alaskensis; grows in the southern parts of this area in swamps and sphagnum bogs. The gummy sap that
seeps from the tree has a very good flavor when chewed.
MEDICINAL PART: The inner bark.
SOLVENT: Boiling water.
BODILY INFLUENCE: Alterative, diuretic, laxative.
USES: Because of its astringent and gently stimulating qualities the inner bark is especially useful for
melancholy that is often caused by the enlarged, sluggish, hardened condition of the liver and spleen,
which inactivate various other functions of the metabolism. For domestic use in emergencies, or long-
standing bleeding of any kind in lungs, stomach, bowels, or too profuse menstruation. Also for diarrhea,
rheumatism, bronchitis, asthma, and poisonous insect bites. J. Kloss, in Back to Eden, recommends the
weak tea as an eyewash and the warm tea dropped in the ear to relieve earache. A decoction of the bark,
combined with spearmint (Mentha spicata), juniper (Juniperus communis), horseradish (Armoracia
lapathifolia), and taken in wineglassful doses has proven valuable in dropsy.
DOSE: As a tea, 1 teaspoonful of the inner bark to 1 cupful of boiling water; steep 30 minutes.
EXTERNALLY: As a wash used to cleanse ulcerated sores of long standing if the condition has progressed
to the bone, combine with comfrey (Symphytum officinale) fresh or dried (taken internally too). As a
poultice, dress often and continue until new skin seals the areas. Also used for hemorrhoids as a salve, or
sitz bath.
RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE: Listvennitza sibirsky, larix siberia (tamarack), grows 150 feet tall in Siberia and
the Far East. The very wide branching tree is one of the most beautiful and magnificent to adorn the
countryside. Turpentine of Larix, known in Russia as venetian terpentain, is one of the byproducts.
Externally: The oil in compound is used for rheumatism, neuralgia, gout; new twigs and bark made into
an antibiotic and antispetic is used as an inhalant steam for catarrh of the lungs, abscesses, gangrene of the
lungs, throat, bronchitis. Also of help to kidney and bladder. Clinically: As oil of turpentine.